The curators of Peter Murphy’s art series, ‘Legacy’, sat down with Peter to hear about his latest series…
Q: Your quote describing your latest artwork series speaks of “elegance in dissonance” and “silence between notes.” How do those ideas appear on the canvas?
“It’s there in the clash of colours that shouldn’t sit together but do, the colours that jar a bit, you know? and in the gaps left untouched. The dissonance gives the canvas its edge; the silences let it breathe. They do the same job as silence in music. They let the whole thing breathe. Brings about a certain tension, a dramatic feel, even innocence sometimes….”
Q: How do you hope these paintings will resonate with viewers – what do you want them to carry away?
“I don’t really want to tell them what to take away… it’s better if the work whispers its own thing to each person. If they walk off with a little echo still in their head, then maybe that’s enough.”
Q: You describe the works as “fragments of dreams.” How much is planned versus discovered while you paint?
“They feel like fragments of dreams because they come together that way; part of it is me deciding, but most of it is what happens as I work. It’s less about control, more about what shows up.”
You can find the available artworks from ‘Legacy’ here.
Peter Murphy Art Studio 